Conventionally, an image forming apparatus is provided with an opening and closing member that is openable/closable on a side surface of an apparatus main body. An openable/closable manual tray is provided in the opening and closing member. A printer or a scanner is known as the image forming apparatus. There are times when a paper jam occurs in which a sheet (paper) is jammed in a conveyance mechanism or processing mechanism inside the image forming apparatus. The opening and closing member can be opened and closed in order to remove a jammed sheet or clean or replace each unit. By releasing a lock mechanism at an upper side of the opening and closing member, the opening and closing member is opened with a hinge at a lower side as the center. A hinge for opening and closing the manual tray is separately provided in the opening and closing member. By opening the manual tray of a manual sheet feed device, a sheet inserted manually into the apparatus main body can be placed on the manual tray.
In the image forming apparatus, the hinge for opening and closing the manual tray is provided at the midway part of the opening and closing member in the length direction. There are times when the opening and closing member is opened in a state where the manual tray is opened to place a sheet for manual insertion. In this case, there are problems that the manual tray is inclined downwards interlocking with the opening operation of the opening and closing member and the sheet undesirably slides down from the manual tray.
In another conventional image forming apparatus, a manual tray is provided obliquely and upwards in a state where the opening and closing member is closed in the apparatus main body. When the opening and closing member is opened from the closed position, the interlocked manual tray is held at the horizontal position. This image forming apparatus couples the apparatus main body with the opening and closing member by a link member in an openable/closable manner. The opening and closing member and the manual tray are coupled by a linear member. When the opening and closing member is opened in the opening state of the manual tray, the linear member passes through a through hole arranged in the opening and closing member such that it is prevented that the manual tray is inclined downwards from the horizontal direction.
However, such an image forming apparatus has a complex structure since the link member and the linear member are used. Moreover, since the link member and the linear member protrude to the upper part of the opened opening and closing member, work such as removal of a jammed sheet, cleaning, or exchange of each unit and the like is undesirably hindered.